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The round up of around three dozen activists in the Punjab with links to banned groups appears to be little more than a piece of theatre. The script writers who sent police teams to raid seminaries and other premises in Multan, Bahwalpur, Sahiwal and other cities in the southern Punjab appear not to realise that their audiences are far more savvy than was the case a decade or so ago. Yet the tactics used have been much the same, aimed at serving cosmetic rather than actual purposes. The arrests appear to have been made on the basis of lists dating back to the 1990s. The newer leaders of banned outfits, who many fear may be behind the latest upswing in violence, seem not to figure on them. Groups such as the Jaish-e-Muhammad of Maulana Masood Azhar, long thought to have a key connection with the Establishment, have not been touched and – most astoundingly of all –arrests have been made under MPO regulations rather than on criminal charges. The use of the colonial-era law to deal with some of the country’s most dangerous offenders makes it likely they will soon walk free from the doors of lock-ups.

There are several fundamental questions that crop up here. Why is it that the authorities are not willing to act? Is it that the Punjab government – possibly with the support of mentors in other places – believes the militants should not be hounded out on the basis that they could serve a useful purpose in the future? Is it that the agencies responsible for law and order lack the will and ability to go after them with any real purpose? Whatever the factors we need to be clear on one fact: terrorism will not cease until militants are dealt with far more forcefully. For the moment it seems the authorities would rather tolerate the bombings rather then set out on a genuine drive against the outfits that carry them out.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2010.